Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Naruto characters, unless otherwise stated. In this case, I only own Kimi and her village.
Author's Note: I'm so so so so sososososo SO sorry it's been so long since I posted. The newest chapter took longer than expected to finish. I'M SORRY!!! I'll try to get the next one finished as soon as I can. Please forgive me! (bows profusely) I hope you enjoy this chapter and have a Merry Christmas (or Happy Hanuka)! SORRY AGAIN!!!
XXII
It was an accident! Honest! Tobi did not mean to knock over the bucket of paint so that it spilled all over Kimi. He had just been trying to help. Tobi was a good boy, after all, and would never do something like that on purpose! He did not want her to be angry. He wanted her to smile and sing like she always did when she was working. That made Tobi happy.
Konan seemed angry when she found Tobi. She snapped at him to clean up his mess and apologize to Kimi. Tobi scrambled to do as he was told. He did not want Konan angry with him either. She was scary when she was angry.
So he hurried to clean up the spilled paint, scrubbing on the floor like Kimi always did. It was a good thing that they had covered up what pieces of Deidara's furniture they could not move, so paint did not get on those. That would make Deidara mad, too, and when he got mad, things blew up. Often, those things turned out to be Tobi, and Tobi did not like that at all. It hurt!
Tobi cleaned, and he tried to hum some as he cleaned, but decided not to. His voice was not as nice as Kimi's. It did not make the cleaning better. So he stayed quiet and cleaned up the paint.
It took Tobi a while to get everything clean. Sometimes, the paint would smear, and that only made a bigger mess, which would not do at all! Finally, after lots of time, effort, and many buckets of soapy water, every drop of spilled paint was cleaned up off the floor – even the stuff that had dripped in the hallway. There was not a stray spot of yellow paint to be seen.
Tobi smiled happily to himself beneath his mask. Kimi would be happy with him when she saw how hard he worked for her. She would forgive him for spilling the bucket of paint, and everything would be all better.
Tobi's joy was cut short, however, as an angry voice snapped from down the hall, "What is this?" Tobi knew that voice. It was Kakuzu. He poked his head out Deidara's door to peer down the hallway.
Kimi, who was standing in front of the irate man, winced. "I-it's your cloak, s-sir. I c-cleaned it," she stammered out, offering up a neatly folded bundle of black cloth.
Kakuzu glared down at her from his doorway for a long minute before jerking the cloth out of her hand and unfurling it. He stared at the cloak through slits for eyes. "You expect me to wear this," he demanded angrily.
"S-sir?"
The bi-color-eyed man turned the cloak around and all but shoved it in Kimi's face, making her stumble backwards a few steps. "Look. It's stained. The cloud is orange," he spat.
Kimi stared at the cloud pattern held before her. The large shape across the chest of the cloak was splotched faintly orange instead of red, with some of the white outline a dull yellow as well. "I-I got a much out of it as I c-could, s-sir," she managed.
Kakuzu threw the cloak down at her feet. "Do you know how much these things cost?" he demanded of her. "Do you?"
She swallowed and shook her head, eyes wide. Tobi dashed to her side, wrapping his arms protectively around her and angling himself between her and Kakuzu. "Leave Miss Kimi alone!" he cried up at Kakuzu. "It wasn't her fault! Tobi was the one who spilled the paint."
The tall man glared and growled, but before he could say anything, Kimi mumbled, "How much?"
"What?" Kakuzu snapped.
Kimi lifted her eyes from staring at Tobi's shoulder. "How much did it cost?" When Kakuzu did not answer her – he just stared – she pried herself from Tobi's arms and ducked into her room. When she emerged, she had a small black pouch clutched in her hands. She offered it to Kakuzu. "I-I don't have a lot, but I'm willing to pay for the damages."
Kakuzu looked slowly from her to the money pouch she held. Tobi waved his hands in front of himself. "You don't have to do that, Miss Kimi. It's not your fault. You don't have to pay him for –"
Kakuzu snatched the pouch from her hands and peered at its contents with a critical eye. Kimi chewed on her lower lip, watching him nervously. Sighing, Tobi let his hands drop uselessly to his sides. Silence passed. Tobi did not like it; it was too stiff.
"It's not enough," Kakuzu finally stated.
Kimi swallowed. "I-I'm sorry, but it's all I have."
He thrust the pouch back into her hands. "Keep it." Kakuzu turned to go back into his room.
Blinking, Kimi looked down at what she held and then back at him. "But what about the cloak?" she asked.
Kakuzu merely grunted and slammed the door. The young woman just stood there, eyes locked on the wood in front of her with a stunned expression on her face. Tobi bent down and picked up the cloak.
"Do you want Tobi to throw this away for you?" he inquired softly, not wanting to startle her. She was already scared enough as it was.
Kimi snapped out of her trance, shaking her head and smiling. "Oh, no no. Don't do that. It's wasteful." She took the cloak from Tobi's hands and draped it over one arm. "I'm sure I can find some use for it, even if it's just for dusting cloths or something." The woman cast a wary glance at Kakuzu's door, as if she expected him to burst forth and object to such usage of the ruined cloak.
When no objection came, Kimi retreated back to her room to stow away the cloak and money pouch before returning to her task of painting Deidara's room. Tobi trailed behind her, a stream of apologies flowing from his mouth until she finally turned to him, chuckling. "Alright, alright. I forgive you. You can stop apologizing."
"Thank you, Miss Kimi!" He gave her a sudden, bone-crushing hug before jumping back again. "Tobi won't spill any paint this time. Tobi will be careful."
Kimi shook her head. "Thanks, Tobi, but you've helped enough. I can finish it up on my own."
Tobi's shoulders dropped in sadness. "But Tobi's a good boy . . ."
She smiled at him. "You can stay and keep me company if you want. Just don't touch anything, okay?" Tobi nodded quickly and eagerly, and Kimi turned to survey the damage. "It's a good thing I bought an extra can of paint."
"Tobi is sorry."
She poured out some of the paint into a tray. "Don't worry about it anymore, Tobi. Besides, you were a big help cleaning all of it up. Thank you."
"Well, Tobi made the mess, so it's only right that Tobi should clean it up." He rocked back and forth from his toes to his heels and back again. "But don't thank Tobi. Tobi would do anything to help Miss Kimi. All you have to do is tell Tobi, and Tobi will help. Tobi is a good boy!"
Kimi glanced back at him as she climbed the ladder and set the tray on the top shelf. She dipped the brush into the yellow paint and began to finish covering the top edge of the wall. After a moment, she asked. "Tobi? Why do you refer to yourself like that?"
"Like what?" Tobi asked innocently.
The girl shot him a puzzled look over her shoulder. "You always talk about yourself in third person. Why do you do that?"
"Is it a bad thing?"
She sighed, rewetting the brush. "Well – no, but still," she said, struggling with her words. "It's kind of – I don't know – demeaning? It's like you're not really you – like you're talking about someone else instead of yourself."
Tobi was silent for a few minutes, causing Kimi to look back again just to make sure he was still standing in the doorway. "Tobi never thought about it like that. It's the way Tobi's always spoken, but Tobi will try to change if Miss Kimi thinks he should."
Kimi shook her head quickly. "Oh, nonono. Don't do that, Tobi. You are who you are. The way you talk is a part of that. You shouldn't change it for anything." She gives him a warm smile before continuing her work.
"Okay, Tobi will remember that! Tobi's a good boy!"
All she could do was chuckle.